The CIA directors, including three who worked under President George W Bush, made their request in a letter to the White House on Friday.

The letter, signed by Michael Hayden, Porter Goss, George Tenet, John Deutch, R James Woolsey, William Webster and James R Schlesinger, comes in the wake of the decision of Attorney General Eric Holder to re-open the criminal investigation ofCIA interrogations that took place during the Bush administration.

The ex-CIA chiefs believe that the move will only help the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

"Attorney General Holder's decision to reopen the criminal investigation creates an atmosphere of continuous jeopardy for those whose cases the Department of Justice had previously declined to prosecute. Moreover, there is no reason to expect that the reopened criminal investigation will remain narrowly focused," the letter said.